Editorial - Open Your Mouth Wide...

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"Open your mouth wide and I will fill it"

The Psalmist spoke to the people a profound word of challenge from the Lord when he said, "Hear, . . . O Israel, if you will listen to me! There shall be no foreign god among you, nor shall you worship any foreign god. I am the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt; open your mouth wide, and I will fill it" (Psalm 81:8-10).

It is as if God is saying, "I did it once and I am prepared to act again for you. What about it?" This Scripture indicates that not only is God prepared to act, but we the askers cannot out-ask Him, as He says, "Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it."

There was even an occasion when one of God's prophets, Elisha, rebuked the king of Israel who had come to visit him when he was sick, because he didn't ask God for enough assurance that He would deliver the king from his enemies in the coming days! We can read the account in 2 Kings 13:14-24.

So we get the message that the Lord delights to answer the prayers of His people, specially regarding deliverance from their enemies. This surely is a message to the people of Israel in the land at this time. They are surrounded by enemies, and have a fifth column in their midst, and between them they want nothing less than Israel's complete destruction, nothing less than all their own demands to ultimately achieve this.

God has His conditions though. His people must worship no foreign god, such as the 'god' of secularism, the 'god' of self-sufficiency, the 'god' of presige or power or learning or achievement. He said, "Oh, that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways! I would soon subdue their enemies, and turn my hand against their adversaries" (81:13-14).

God will always be faithful to show us in what ways we need to get right with HIm. And as a nation Israel has a long-standing confrontation with the Lord pending, and it dates back to the time when they said, "We will not have this man to be our King!" When that decision has been reversed then there is nothing that God will not do to save and restore His people.